After putting £8 on six races the punter missed out when the ironically named Escape To Glory failed to win the final race

A racing punter has narrowly missed out on a windfall of nearly £7 million when the last horse in his six race accumulator bet came second.

After placing an £8 bet, the unlucky punter missed out when the ironically named Escape To Glory failed to win this afternoon at Thirsk.

The unnamed Ladbrokes gambler successfully bet on the first five winners with odds of 20-1, 8-1, 16-1, 6-1 and 14-1.

The bet was part of a huge Tote Scoop6 prize which has rolled over for a 12th week.

The win and bonus funds for the bet totalled over £10million ahead of races at Newbury, Newmarket and Thirsk, with the 4.00 event at the latter receiving terrestrial coverage on Channel 4 with three horses covered by potential winning tickets.

The £8 punter had two of the runners, including Escape To Glory who was to go agonisingly close to being perfectly named when almost getting upsides Llanarmon Lad deep inside the final furlong of the Marion Gibson Brown Memorial Handicap.

But just as it looked like a monster £6,874,345 would be landed, the Brian Ellison-trained winner found more to score by a length and a quarter at 16-1. The same backer had the sixth-placed Justonefortheroad.

A straight £2 line punter in Ireland was responsible for the third home Capaill Liath.

A 20-1 shock from Front Page News in the first leg at Newmarket had knocked out plenty of tickets, and there were only 283 slips left after third leg with a mere 41 still standing after leg four.

The win fund will open up at £6,874,345 next Saturday, with the bonus pot standing at an all-time high of £3,824,712.

Tote representatives expect £15million to be in the pools at off time.

Totepool spokesman Andrew Griffiths said: "The atmosphere today both on and off the track surrounding the Scoop6 was electric and something none of us associated with this amazing bet has ever previously enjoyed.

"We were all cheering the three horses left in the last leg at full volume and it's almost certain that we will have a £15million bet next week for punters to get their teeth into."

There were 765 winners of the place fund, which returned a dividend of £1,717.40.

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